Category Archives: Updates

It has been a pleasure to lead MATAC for the past two terms, particularly the year 2012/2013 as we embarked upon the first year of our ILB (Industrial Lead Body) projects in collaboration with the Department of Skills Development, Ministry of Human Resources.

The financial year 2012/2013 has been a year of uncertainty, with the economic upheaval on the global scale. For Malaysia, a significant change in the political weather was felt both by the industry and MATAC as the national election was held towards the end of the financial year 2012/2013. The uncertain economic scenario continues as the implementation of the minimum wage policy is still in discussion and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement has yet to be concluded. Despite these uncertainties, MATAC continued to strive and work hard to meet the challenges in training and skill upgrading.

MATAC’s commitment to drive training and skill upgrading for the textile and apparel industry in Malaysia has been demonstrated through the undertaking of three ILB projects. The ILB is part of the Malaysia’s Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) and it is implemented to improve the quality of skills training through industry-led bodies that will set standards, issue guidelines on content and harmonise the skills training curriculum. With these ILB projects, MATAC re-launched itself and enhanced its profile in the industry.

The three ILB projects undertaken are as follows:

Study on Skill Shortages in the Textile and Apparel Industry;

New NOSS for Pattern Making; and

New NOSS for Knitting Textile.

The study on skill shortages in the textile and apparel industry commenced in second quarter of 2013 with the twin objectives to identify skill shortages in the various occupational groups, covering all facets of employers’ operations as well as skills which are critical to the industry. This project which is expected to be completed in the next financial year has positioned MATAC to work closely with the industry throughout Malaysia. This helps MATAC to build and strengthen its links and partnership with the industry as the industry’s main centre for human capital development.

Apart from the study, two new National Occupational Skills Standards (NOSS) also commenced in early 2013 for pattern making and the knitting textile occupational area. Currently, there are only nineteen (19) NOSS for the textile and apparel industry and with these two new NOSS developed, the industry will be able to use them to conduct systematic training, enhancing the supply of highly trained and competent workers. With regard to the new NOSS for the knitting occupational area, MATAC collaborated with the Malaysian Knitting Manufacturers Association (MKMA) in executing the project. This collaboration between MATAC and MKMA is an achievement for MATAC as such collaborative efforts will be for the betterment of the industry. We hope to see more of such efforts in the future not only with MKMA, but also with the government agencies

In addition to these ILB projects, MATAC continued to train Sewing Machine Technicians and sewers for the textile and apparel industry. In the financial year 2012/2013, MATAC has trained up to 21 sewers under the PSMB-MATAC Sewers Training for Employment Programme (SEWIN) and organized 19 training programmes for its members.

All in all, the year 2012/2013 has been an interesting one, inspite of the numerous challenges.For the year ahead, MATAC will intensify it’s efforts in human capital development to cater for the needs of the textile and apparel industry. It has been an enormous privilege to be the President over the last two terms and it has been an absolute pleasure to work with all the MATAC’s team.